The present invention relates to signal recording or reproduction devices for disks enclosed in cartridges.
FIGS. 11A, 11B and 11C are side elevations of a conventional signal recording or reproduction device for disks. A holder 2 is pivotally supported at one end thereof by a chassis 1 provided with a turntable 73. A cartridge 6 having the disk enclosed therein is inserted into the holder 2. A lock slide 4 to be pushed by the cartridge 6 is provided on the holder 2 and movable in cartridge inserting and unloading directions. As will be described later, the lock slide 4 holds the cartridge 6 as inserted in the holder 2, and is biased in the cartridge unloading direction by a tension spring 8 in engagement with the slide 4 and the holder 2. In the following description, the cartridge inserting direction will be referred to as xe2x80x9cfront,xe2x80x9d and the unloading direction as xe2x80x9crear.xe2x80x9d
The lock slide 4 is provided at its front end with an engaging hook 40 which is downwardly deflectable for deformation. Positioned in front of the engaging hook 40 is a lug 23 projecting from the holder 2. When the lock slide 4 is moved forward against the tension spring 8 by the insertion of the cartridge into the holder 2, the engaging hook 40 deflects once and thereafter comes into engagement with the lug 23 as seen in FIG. 11B. When the holder 2 is pivotally moved down, the turntable 73 on the chassis 1 faces the bottom surface of the holder 2, and the device is made ready to record or reproduce signals.
Provided on the chassis 1 is release means 10 which will be described later. When the holder 2 is raised from a lowered position as seen in FIG. 1C, the release means 10 disengages the hook 40 from engagement with the lug 23. The lockslide 4 is moved rearward by the tension spring 8 and returned to the position shown in FIG. 11A.
FIG. 12 is a perspective view of the release means 10 and a primary portion of the holder 2. The engaging hook 40 of the lock slide 4 has a push plate 41 projecting laterally from the hood base end. The release means 10 is formed by bending a metal plate. A support wall 12 upstanding from the chassis 1 has a release piece 11 projecting inward and slanting downward.
FIG. 13 is a view of the release means 10 of FIG. 12 as it is seen from the direction of arrow A. With the downward pivotal movement of the holder 2, the push plate 41 of the lock slide 4 pushes the release piece 11 downward as shown in FIG. 13. An allowance for the engagement of the push plate 41 with the release piece 11 is indicated at L. Since the engaging hook 40 shown in FIG. 12 is restrained from deforming by upward deflection by contact with the lower surface of the lug 23, the release piece 11 is temporarily deflected counterclockwise as indicated in a chain line in FIG. 13, permitting the passage of the push plate 41. Upon the push plate 41 moving past the release piece 11, the release piece restores 11 itself elastically.
When the holder 2 is raised from the lowered position, the upper surface of the push plate 41 comes into contact with the lower end of the release piece 11. The release piece 11 pushes the push plate 41 down, releasing the engaging hook 40 from the lug 23 as shown in FIG. 1C.
However, the device described has the following problem.
It is commercially desired that devices of this type be compact and shortened also in lateral width. Accordingly, the release piece 11 needs to be shortened also in lateral width M (see FIG. 13). Since the width M is small, however, it is likely that the release piece 11 will not restore itself elastically owing to plastic deformation if the amount of deflective deformation of the release piece 11 is great. To compact the device while eliminating this likelihood, the amount of deflective deformation of the release piece 11 is diminished by reducing the allowance L for the engagement of the push plate 41 with the release piece 11.
Because of the reduced allowance L, nevertheless, the engaging hook 40 will not be released from the lug 23 with stability if the position where the release means 10 is mounted differs from device to device. Thus, there is the likelihood that the engaging hook 40 will not be released from the lug 23 accurately.
An object of the present invention is to render the engaging piece releasable from the lug with good stability when the holder is raised even if the release piece has a small lateral width.
Release means is mounted on a chassis 1 for disengaging a lock slide 4 from a holder 2 when the holder 1 is pivotally moved upward from a lowered position. The release means has a release piece 11 slanting with respect to the plane of pivotal movement of the holder 2 and attached at a base end thereof to the chassis 1, the release piece 11 being deformable by deflecting outward and extending from its base end toward a cartridge inserting-unloading direction.
The release piece 11 is movable between a deflected position to which the release piece is elastically deformed outward by being pushed by the lock slide 4 when the holder 2 is lowered to permit passage of the lock slide 4 and a standby position in which the release piece 11 restores itself elastically and disengages the lock slide 4 from the holder 2 by coming into contact with the lock slide 4 when the holder 2 is pivotally moved upward from the lowered position.